9th European Quality Conference
Guidelines for submission of
Potential Case Studies
15 - 16 May 2017
Hilton Malta
Joining forces and breaking silos towards a better performing,
transparent and inclusive public administration
9th European Quality Conference
Guidelines for submission of Potential Case Studies
15 - 16 May 2017
Hilton Malta
Joining forces and breaking silos towards a better performing,
transparent and inclusive public administration
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Introduction
Selection Procedure
Themes
Roadmap
Contact Information
I. INTRODUCTION
The European Public Administration Network (EUPAN) is a network of European countries with a
mission “to improve the performance, competitiveness and quality of European public
administrations by developing new tools and methods, in the field of public administration,
based on the exchange of views, experiences and good practices among EU Member States, the
European Commission, observer countries and other organisations”.
EUPAN has been organizing the European Quality Conference since the year 2000.
Malta will be hosting the 9th European Quality Conference (9QC). The conference focuses
on a strong public administration, increasingly capable of tackling current and future challenges.
This high level event addresses policy makers, advisers and civil servants, who are proactively
seeking innovative methodologies and information. The 9QC will focus on four main themes,
namely:
1. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector.
2. Cooperation and inclusiveness in Policy Making and Implementation.
3. Innovative service delivery to citizens and businesses to satisfy customers’ needs.
4. Open and transparent government as a solid foundation.
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 2
The EUPAN Member States are invited to present cases studies illustrating one of these key
themes.
II. SELECTION PROCEDURE
The chosen themes are the starting point for the Member States to shortlist and propose
inspiring case studies. Member States can also provide suggestions for potential keynote
speakers.

Procedure. EUPAN members and Member States are invited to submit inspiring case
studies and best practices. Each Member State is invited to present 2 case studies and
submit the completed application form to the EIPA ([email protected]) and the 9QC Malta
organisers ([email protected]). The submitted case studies will be shortlisted and evaluated
according to selection criteria listed below:
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Applicability - The implemented project shows that planned objectives and results
were achieved and had a visible impact on a specific area of public administration.
Innovative - The application of creative, innovative and exceptional ideas in the
implementation of the project.
Integration - The project demonstrates cooperation amongst customers,
stakeholders and society. These integrated methods take into account the strategic
objectives, personnel involvement, process and change management, etc. which were
used during project implementation.
Sustainability - The results achieved are able to be maintained at a certain rate or
level, with possibility to be developed in the longer term.
Transferability - The project must be adaptable to be implemented in other
organisations for the same or different reasons.

Applicants. All European public administration institutions and the public sector at all
levels (European, national, regional and local) can propose case studies to be presented at
the 9QC. The shortlisted cases would eventually be discussed with the applicant.

Application form. The attached application form is to be duly filled in for each submission
of a case study. In addition, as indicated in the application form, a summary of inspiring
case study is to be presented together with objectives, results attained, lessons learnt, etc.
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 3
III. THEMES
The purpose of these case studies is to illustrate good practices and how the public
administration contributes to “Joining forces and breaking silos towards a better
performing, transparent and inclusive public administration”. Applicants are to present
their case studies related to the four themes defined by EUPAN, illustrating how by joining
forces, breaking silos and working together; a high level of performance is achieved. The
inspiring case study may relate to one or more themes, although it is recommended to choose
the most relevant theme to illustrate your case.
A detailed description of the four themes is provided below:
1. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector
A change in the composition of the workforce will create a great impact in the
nature of people management within the public sector. The involvement and
motivation of a more diverse workforce, demands an adaptable strategic leadership to engage
and create synergy and inclusiveness within the public sector. In a digital era new competences
and skills are constantly needed to encourage inclusiveness and teamwork. Different
generations need to work together regardless of any differences, to mitigate the risk of disorder
in work performance. Nowadays, a purely hierarchical system does not reap the desired work
output and outcome. Autonomy combined with responsibility and accountability, are key
elements that contribute to attracting the best people in the public sector. Seniority will no
longer automatically lead to top positions but would be assessed smartly and its particular
merits maximised based on accomplishments, experience and education. In the past internal
competition alone did not reap the desired result and innovative ideas and teamwork are
needed. In the recent years, inspiring practices in many of these fields have been building up
and will be presented in this theme.
Examples of potential cases
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Participative management: inspiring leadership, staff empowerment, delegation in
combination with accountability.
Exchange of staff within and between organisations.
Enhanced mobility and employability.
Demographic changes and collaboration between generations in the use of new tools,
managing expectations between generations and adapting skills.
Consultation of potential new civil servants on their needs and expectations.
etc
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 4
2. Cooperation and Inclusiveness in policy making and
implementation
Policy making has evolved from a solo political forum to an inclusive
process engaging the relevant stakeholders. In some Member States policy
making involves a consultation process; however this consultation has been institutionalised for
many years. Representative organisations have obtained a privileged status but societal
changes demand new and sometimes more effective and direct forms of policy building and
stakeholders’ involvement. Citizens are better educated and emancipated and feel self-confident
enough to be involved in the design, decision-making, implementation and evaluation of
policies. Nevertheless, skills development to enable taking part in this process is necessary and
has to be offered by the authorities. Communication needs to be formalised for successful and
inclusive policymaking and implementation.
This would encourage the public actors to break their silos and adopt an open mentality to
partners and experts within both the public and private sectors. Such collaboration would
support them in developing short, medium and long term strategies. Given that in the past
expertise was a vital and appreciated asset for career development and had to be tightly
protected, breaking the silos is not an easy task - even inside a public organisation. Nowadays,
sharing expertise and joining forces is necessary to deal with the complex societal challenges.
Citizens are only interested in the end result and the actors in the field have to collaborate
horizontally and vertically to reach this objective.
Examples of potential cases

Involving the stakeholders in policy making, implementation and evaluation.

Develop and implement a policy on the smart use of social media to include citizens.
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Collaboration between political and administrative leadership in defining policies.
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Collaboration between organisations belonging to different horizontal and vertical levels
inside a policy chain.
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Translating ideas from international networks in national or regional policy development.

Etc.
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 5
3. Innovative service delivery to citizens and businesses to satisfy
customers’ needs
The digital revolution and the changing demands and needs of the citizens
create opportunities for new and better services. Organisations need to tap
into such opportunities and embrace the necessary values that stimulate the required
behaviour. These values include: openness, transparency, accountability, integrity, respect and
trust. Involving stakeholders in policymaking is very different from involving them in service
design and delivery.
Innovation in public sector organisations may have two aspects: (1) innovation of processes;
and (2) innovation of the services and products delivered. Both approaches demand
organisations to consider the citizens/customers as their partners and to respect their expertise,
even if limited. The public administration has to provide the necessary means to register
citizens’/customers’ expectations, needs, proposals and suggestions. The public sector has to
gain the engagement and trust of the citizens carefully. It can be quickly lost and is very
difficult to regain it. Regular feedback on what is done with their input is crucial in this context.
Innovation also demands courage and openness which in itself has a learning curve and which
should not be seen as an obstacle to continuous improvement. The principles of the continuous
improvement should be in the DNA of every public organisation. One has to consider that it is
natural to make mistakes to improve and that the real problem is not to learn from them.
Examples of potential cases
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Research on changing customer behaviour as the basis for new products.
Involve customers in the design of satisfaction measurements and needs analysis and
co-decide on the outcome.
One-stop shops to facilitate service delivery to citizens.
Multi-channel service delivery.
Better internal coordination of processes and structures.
Process redesign in consultation with the customer to raise efficiency and effectiveness.
Develop e-services together with the citizen/customer.
Moving towards digital by default.
etc
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 6
4. Open and transparent government as a solid foundation
A number of important values underpinning the relation with the
citizen/customer to enable innovative service delivery have already been
mentioned. Whilst it is important that individual officials behave with integrity (ethically), it is
equally essential that the performance of the entire administrative system is based on ethical
practices, in order to conform to the highest standards of public service. Integrity is the fertile
soil in which policy goals are crafted solely in the interests of citizens, and achieved in an
optimal way without distortion or diversion of ways or means.
An open and transparent government guarantees citizens the right to have access to
documents and proceedings of the government to execute public control in an effective way,
proper to a democratic society. It assures equal rights for all citizens and foresees the
necessary instruments to make the authorities accountable on their policies’ outcomes.
Transparency contributes on the one hand to the prevention of corruption, bribery and
malfeasance and on the other hand produces greater knowledge of public affairs amongst the
population and thus stimulates involvement. It also allows control on what the information the
government disposes of concerning the citizens and protects the privacy of the citizens in this
way. Open and transparent government is built on trust and mutual understanding.
Examples of potential cases
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Ethics and integrity policies
Fighting corruption measures and practices
Accountability
Accessibility
Etc.
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 7
IV. ROADMAP
Timing
EUPAN
13-14 October,
2016
Activity
Presentation & discussion final draft of the programme structure
(keynote topics / themes / subthemes + how to market in the
countries) in plenary EUPAN as part of Maltese Presidency chapter
+ Power Point presentation on practicalities)
Pre-announcement / communication on the conference on
European / national / regional / local levels in the Member States
with the aim of collecting potential interest 9Qc, webpage of Malta
After EUPAN’s October meeting, Member States look for potential
cases and send them to the 9QC Organising Team.
Selection of the cases & keynotes
Finalisation of the programme
Actor
Slovakia + Malta
+ EIPA
Start (targeted) marketing on the basis of full programme with
flyers and on website/s
Contact and briefing selected cases/keynotes
MSs
Member States +
Malta + EIPA
Malta + EIPA
21/03/2017
21/03/2017
Member States round-up of collected expressions for interest &
inform organisers
Analysis of the total number of participants and spreading among
the Member States
Confirmation of participants per country by conference organisers
Start registration by the participants
03/04/2017
17/04/2017
28/04/2017
Sending in presentations to EIPA
Feedback on the presentations
Finalisation of presentations/material
15 & 16 May
2017
The 9th European Quality Conference
Cases
EIPA
Malta + EIPA +
cases + keynotes
NovemberDecember, 2016
Deadline
13/01/2017
09/02/2017
15 /02/2017
16 /02/2017
16/02/2017
15/03/2017
20/03/2017
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Member States
Member States
Malta + EIPA
Malta + EIPA
Malta + EIPA
Malta + EIPA
Participants
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 8
V. CONTACT INFORMATION

9QC Organising Team:
George Dimech, CEO, Management Efficiency Unit, Office of the Prime Minister
E-mail: [email protected]

EIPA:
Patrick Staes, Head of the EIPA CAF Resource Centre
Tel: +31 43 3296 317
E-mail: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
9QC Organising Team
2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU
Website: 9qc.gov.mt
Page 9